Syed Zaeem “Z” Hosain, a founder and the chief technical officer at Aeris, was named the new chairman of the IoT M2M Council by the trade association’s Board of Governors at their annual meeting, held in November in Boston. With more than 25,000 members worldwide, covering 24 different vertical-market sectors, the IMC is the largest and fastest-growing trade organisation serving the IoT industry.

Hosain has been with Aeris – a technology provider in IoT – since 1996, when the company was founded, and has more than 38 years of experience in the semiconductor, telecommunications and computer industries. He has held leadership positions for several industry associations and technical standards bodies, and is the author of the book, “The Definitive Guide: The Internet of Things for Business.”

“By reaching out to buyers of IoT technology on such a large scale, the IMC can provide solutions providers with a natural platform to promote their products and services, and also learn about enterprise users and OEMs that are deploying the technology. For example, we have data that show a plurality of them self-identify as ‘operations’ – not ‘IT’ or ‘R&D’ – and now we’re digging deeper, and tracking if there are movements in these categories,” said Hosain.

To cultivate interaction between buyers and sellers in the IoT sector, the IMC has recently introduced a number of new programs, including a software widget survey-tool that tests a user’s readiness for IoT deployments and a template RFP program for its members that are interested in sourcing IoT software platforms.

The group has also been named as the exclusive organiser of the Consumer Electronics Show’s (CES) new area dedicated to IoT infrastructure – more than 6,500 square feet of exhibition space already has been booked for the January 2018 event to take place in Las Vegas.

“This is the first time CES will host a dedicated IoT area of this kind, and it’s a major achievement for the IMC. Our IMC mission is about bringing buyers and sellers together, and CES attracts tens of thousands of OEMs from markets that are crucial to the IoT,” said Hosain.